But they are not alone. The Marine Times says that out of 97 who started out, 34 Marines (including the woman) did not complete the 84-day regimen.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened all military jobs – including combat roles – to all genders last December. He reaffirmed that decision in March, and in June lifted the ban on transgender individuals serving openly in the military.

The strategy laid out by the Army and Marines for integrating women into combat jobs calls for officers to be trained first – and the Marines, at least, have refused to lower the physical requirements.

Ciro Scotti, a journalist, editor and media strategist, is a contributing editor to The Fiscal Times. Earlier, he was Deputy Editor, The Americas, at Reuters and Managing Editor at Bloomberg Businessweek.